Project promotes safe child delivery at home [Archives:2006/926/Health]
Faisal Al-Sofany
Maternal mortality rates in Yemen are among the highest in the world. Home deliveries are estimated at 84 percent. Therefore, the project to save mothers during childbirth at home is considered a positive gesture. However, the project has faced many difficulties and obstacles. The project's program officer, Asia Makwi, talked about the project and obstacles to it.
When was the project established?
The Social Affairs and Labor Ministry issued a 2003 resolution to establish this project under Ministry of Health – population sector supervision and supported by the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA). However the project's actual work began in 2005.
What are the project's objectives?
The project's main aim is to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates. On the basis of resolutions from the first National Conference on Population Policies held October 1990 in Sana'a, Yemen must reduce newborn mortality rates from 130 deaths per 1,000 to 60 deaths per 2,000.Therefore, the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry's General Management for Mother and Child, through women's roles in social, economic development programs in coordination with UNFPA, proposed the idea of establishing this project which was being studied two years ago.
The idea has been crystallized to found an experimental factory to produce packets containing safe childbirth requirements. We are going to generalize this protective means and distribute them to all Yemeni regions. We believe the packets will be the most important protective means used to improve healthy circumstances of domestic childbirth operations and decrease the risks leading to death, as well as diseases and infections leading to infant deaths.
A 2003 demographic survey estimated that 366 women die for every 100,000 babies delivered. There are eight maternal deaths daily in Yemen, which is considered the highest rate among Arab countries.
What are the regions in which you work?
Our priority is to cover the densest and most rural regions of the republic, as such regions urgently need these types of services.
What are the reasons for Yemen's maternal mortality and how we can reduce such causes?
Seventy-five percent of Yemenis reside in villages in mostly isolated regions, whether in the mountains or the desert. We found that the main reasons for maternal mortality are the difficult circumstances women live under in these regions.
For example, 38.8 percent of mothers die due to absence of a nearby medical facility, 14.8 percent die because they cannot afford childbirth operation expenses, 8.8 percent die due to absence of proper medical equipment and facilities, 5.5 percent die because of lack of transportation in these distant regions and 2.6 percent die due to the husband's refusal to transfer the mother to a hospital. Also, 11.8 percent of mothers prefer giving birth at home.
Thousands of women die or suffer permanent injury each year due to childbirth complications, bleeding, postpartum hemorrhaging and diseases like malaria, hepatitis and anemia.
How will the project help to reduce maternal mortality?
The production factory where the project is set is prepared to produce safe childbirth kits consisting of:
– Medical gloves and sterilized masks
– Soap for washing hands before childbirth operations
– Piece of plastic cloth and sterilized cotton
– Sterilized threads and razors
– Definition brochure from which midwives in any region can learn delivery procedures simply
There are three such production factories in three governorates: Al-Dhala, Al-Mahwit and Amran. The tools have been tested many times by Arab experts and local midwives.
Project management also has arranged many workshops and lectures specializing in reproductive health, as well as launched many training courses to introduce the production and trained midwives to use such tools.
Do you cooperate with NGOs?
Some organizations like UNFPA, Oxfam and GTZ are very cooperative; however, some organizations refused to deal with us. We welcome private sector cooperation and other NGOs.
What are the obstacles facing the project?
We experience a lack of financial resources that hinders distributing the products to targeted groups with less cost. Financial problems also prevent us from carrying out the program completely. For example, we face difficulties in conducting field studies, training courses, educational lectures and media announcements to introduce the project and its goals.
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